Synagogues in Dublin - A Brief History

In 1662, shortly after Oliver Cromwell granted readmittance of Jews to England and Ireland, a handful of Spanish and Portuguese businessmen visited Dublin for trade, and established a prayer room in a business premises on Crane Lane. 

 

With time, small groups of Ashkenazi Jews found their way from Central and Eastern Europe to Dublin. These were mostly poor peddlers, and some Hebrew scholars. Around the end of the 17th century, a Polish rabbi, Aaron ben Moses, was appointed to serve the nascent community.  

 

The Jewish population grew throughout the 18th century, and by 1762 a synagogue had been established north of the River Liffey, in Marlborough Street or Marlborough Green. 

 

There was also a private synagogue in a house on Stafford Street. The oldest artefact in the Irish Jewish Museum today is, a fine perochet from the Stafford Synagogue, dated from 1782.   

 

The Napoleonic wars and further ruptures in continental Europe brought about another upswing in Jewish immigration to Ireland in the first quarter of the 19th century. In 1835, a 90-seat synagogue was opened at 12 Mary’s Abbey, off Capel Street.

 

The last quarter of the 19th century saw the arrival of hundreds of Lithuanian Jews, many of whom came escaping pogroms or seeking new economic opportunities. The new immigrants sought affordable housing on the south side of Dublin, mainly between South Circular Road and Portobello, an area that became known as ‘Little Jerusalem’. 

 

New Shteibels and Chevrot began to appear, at St Kevin’s Parade, (1883), Oakfield Place (1885), Lennox Street (1887), Heytesbury St. (1891), Camden St. (1892), and Lombard St. (1893). 

 

In 1892, the purpose-built, grand Synagogue at Adelaide Road was opened, catering to the growing community. It was built in Eastern Romanesque style, and at its peak it had a seating capacity of 600. The first Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Yitzchak Halevi Herzog, was inaugurated at Adelaide Road in 1921, and served there until being appointed as Chief Rabbi of Mandate Palestine in 1936.  

 

Over time, some of the smaller shteibels began to merge, and their sponsors started planning for a great synagogue of their own. In 1916, they laid the foundation stone for Greenville Hall Synagogue on South Circular Road, which opened in 1925.

 

During the same period, a smaller synagogue was opened, and subsequently expanded, on Walworth Road. It remained active until the 1960’s, and it re-emerged several years later as the current Irish Jewish Museum.

 

The Terenure Hebrew Congregation was formed in 1936 to cater to young families living in Terenure, Rathgar and Rathmines. It initially functioned out of rented rooms at 6 Grosvenor Place, Rathmines, before buying 52 Grosvenor Road in April 1940. In September 1948 the congregation relocated to the current grounds on Rathfarnham Road, Terenure, which had been purchased and donated by Woulfe Freedman and Erwin Goldwater. The synagogue building was completed and dedicated in August 1953. 

 

On 9th February 1966, the synagogue was set on fire. The building was badly damaged, and several Torah scrolls were destroyed. On 26th May 1968, the newly refurbished Shul was rededicated.

 

In the 1950’s, a small synagogue opened with the Home for aged and infirm Jews (OAH) on Denmark Hill. The OAH closed a half-century later, and the synagogue morphed into a prayer room in the Quaker Home, Bloomfield.

 

Around 1967, St. Kevin’s Parade shteibel was sold and moved to new premises on Terenure Road North, to become known as Machzikei Hadass. When the Greenville Hall Synagogue was sold in 1984 due to Jewish families moving out of the South Circular Road vicinity, many of its displaced members joined Machzikei Hadass.     

 

As a result of continued movement to Dublin’s suburbs, as well as Jewish migration to communities in London, Manchester, Israel, and elsewhere, the grand Adelaide Road Synagogue closed in 1999 and subsequently sold. In December 2004, the Adelaide Road and Terenure Hebrew Congregations formally merged and assumed the name Dublin Hebrew Congregation (DHC). In 2022, Machzikei Hadass also closed and merged with the DHC.

 

The DHC is now the only Orthodox Synagogue in Ireland, under the leadership of Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder. It has minyanim every morning and evening, vibrant weekly Shabbat services, and runs popular shiurim, children’s groups, and communal events.